Pavia looks to boost public safety resources

By Jeff Morganteen, Staff Writer

Published 12:56 pm, Monday, October 19, 2009

STAMFORD -- Mike Pavia, the Republican candidate for mayor, sees the police force as a core extension of city government, saying he would turn to church groups and nonprofit outreach organizations to help improve policing the city's relatively isolated pockets of crime.

There should be no competition for funding among components of core government services -- such as schools, fire protection and police -- and Pavia said he would try to use that funding to staff the Police Department at appropriate levels and develop tactical units, such as SWAT teams and hostage negotiators. The department disbanded such teams years ago.

"Think about that," Pavia said from his private office on Hope Street on Thursday. "It's OK if you have a Home Depot in your downtown area. It's a mundane kind of thing. But when you have RBS and UBS and major headquarters of global recognition, I think we're very lucky and fortunate nothing has taken place."

Finding the funding for such initiatives remains a challenge. Last month, the Police Department learned it did not get federal stimulus money to hire 30 more officers because its crime rates are too low and the city is not in dire enough financial straits compared with poorer cities. In the most recent hiring process, the department was given enough money to hire two officers. It will only get one new officer because a candidate recently dropped out, citing personal reasons, a Police Department spokesman said.

Police officials and its union have said they need more officers to reduce overtime spending and increase the number of officers on patrol. Some fear budget cuts threaten to reduce the department into a reactive force, and 20 officers were almost laid off from the department during the most recent round of contract negotiations.

"We don't want to go through that," Pavia said about the negotiations. "Hopefully with a new administration coming in, the bad feelings and concerns can get rebuilt so we won't see the same contentiousness that we saw the last time."

Pavia said the reason Stamford has low crime rates -- it regularly reports fewer murders, violent crimes and property crimes than cities such as Bridgeport and Hartford, which are only slightly larger -- is because of two factors. He used the low crime rates as a chance to laud the Police Department's effectiveness.

"That reputation is well-known and regarded, and that has a positive effect in terms of crime control," Pavia said. "The message is, you do something in Stamford, you better be prepared, because the Police Department has got its act together."

Pavia also said Stamford's close-knit residential neighborhoods -- Belltown, Glenbrook and Springdale, among others -- contributed to low crime rates. The small-town vibe creates a natural sense of deterrence among residents, he said.

Police, however, spend most of their time on the streets of Stamford's other neighborhoods -- the South End and West and East sides -- and contend with an immigrant community of undocumented Latinos that police brass said are the most victimized population group in the city.

Pavia recommended the city turn to the local not-for-profit community outreach organizations or church groups to try and penetrate the community further.

"It's a tough situation," Pavia said. "And it's tough on both sides. With a little bit better communication, some of that will be eased. There's some great personalities in the Latino community that don't only have the capability, but also the motivation, to help in these matters."

One program he suggested involves setting up a program through a church or nonprofit that would organize the day-labor pickup spots along South State Street, giving order to what has become a "free-for-all," he said.

Within the department, Pavia said, recent allegations of police brutality from a Latina business owner, who claimed she was beaten severely while being arrested during a concert series this summer, raises several concerns about the department's complaint policy.

Instead of listening to calls for a civilian review board to handle complaints against police officers, Pavia said, the Police Commission, a board of appointed officials to oversee personnel matters at the department, should shoulder the burden of revamping the department's complaint process.

A former commissioner himself, Pavia said the board used to review complaints regularly. Recently, changes to the hierarchy and organization of the Police Department has lessened its role in the complaint process, he said.

"The complaints drove a proactive response," Pavia said. "And that's the kind of thing I think we need to see more progressively pursued in the Police Department."

Staff writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 203-964-2215.